Another solid Everyman, with everything in its proper place.
Nothing to complain about here, a nicely worked worked puzzle pitched (I think, though others may disagree) at just the right level, which, according to moh’s patent cruciverbal hardness scale rating, is… Talc.
Many thanks to Everyman.
| ACROSS | ||
| 1 | MERSEYSIDE |
Where I see my Reds playing? (10)
|
| Anagram (playing) of I SEE MY REDS, with the clue as definition | ||
| 6 | OGRE |
Man-eater correspondingly retires (4)
|
| Reversal (retires) of ERGO. Over to you to debate the precise degree of synonymity – or lack thereof – between “ergo” and “correspondingly” | ||
| 9 | SOUR GRAPES |
Unedified attitude of our gross primate on board (4,6)
|
| OUR (from surface) + GR (gross) + APE inside SS (on board) | ||
| 10 | PAIR |
Item that sounds like prune – or another fruit (4)
|
| Two soundalikes, of “pare” and “pear”. Item as in couple | ||
| 11 | GROUNDHOG DAY |
Occasion celebrating pork mince – yet again? (9,3)
|
| GROUND-HOG DAY could be an occasion that celebrates minced pork. Def refers to the Bill Murray time-loop comedy of the same name | ||
| 15 | EXTREME |
Kiss in cemetery, naked, dancing: it’s a bit much (7)
|
| X (kiss) inside an anagram (dancing) of [c]EMTER[y] (cemetery, naked) | ||
| 16 | NAIROBI |
Flipping interminable, the writer wearies Scotsman somewhere in Kenya (7)
|
| Reversal (flipping) of I BOR[e] (the writer wearies, interminable) IAN (the standard-issue crossword Scotsman) | ||
| 17 | CHERVIL |
Butcher, vilified, hides leaves (7)
|
| Hidden in (hides) butCHER VILified | ||
| 19 | BRIGAND |
Highway robber‘s sturdy as well as round: right! (7)
|
| BIG AND (sturdy as well as) round R | ||
| 20 | IM SORRY TO SAY |
Or is my story a shambles, sadly? (2,5,2,3)
|
| Anagram (shambles) of OR IS MY STORY A | ||
| 23 | TIED |
Like shoelaces needing extra time (4)
|
| Double def, the second referring to eg a football match that is tied at the end of normal time and therefore requires extra time | ||
| 24 | BLANK SLATE |
Fresh start; military dummies behind schedule (5,5)
|
| BLANKS (dummy ammunition/military dummies) + LATE (behind schedule) | ||
| 25 | ROTA |
Spoil a list of duties (4)
|
| ROT (spoil) + A | ||
| 26 | CYBERNETIC |
Britain restrained by unwise reticency regarding futuristic tech (10)
|
| Insertion (restrained by) of B into anagram (unwise) of RETICENCY | ||
| DOWN | ||
| 1 | MESH |
Work together well, as Everyman quiet (4)
|
| ME (Everyman) + SH (quiet) | ||
| 2 | ROUX |
Piglet’s friend, we hear, is basis for various sauces (4)
|
| Soundalike (we hear) of Roo, a friend of Piglet’s in the Winnie-the-Pooh stories | ||
| 3 | EAGER BEAVER |
Beer, average (but free): I’m keen (5,6)
|
| Anagram (but free) of BEER AVERAGE | ||
| 4 | STATUTE |
Output of lawmaker investing time in public art (7)
|
| T inside (investing time in) STATUE | ||
| 5 | DRESDEN |
Compadres denied bottles somewhere on the Elbe (7)
|
| Hidden (bottles/is bottled by) in compaDRES DENied | ||
| 7 | GRAND TOTAL |
Sum that gives you a G? (5,5)
|
| Cryptic def | ||
| 8 | EARLY BIRDS |
Archaeopteryx etc: their diet includes worms (5,5)
|
| Double def, the second referring to the well-worn maxim about the early bird catching the worm | ||
| 12 | ORIGINAL SIN |
First mistake: milling grain in silo (8,3)
|
| Anagram (milling) of GRAIN IN SILO | ||
| 13 | DESCRIPTOR |
Predictor’s remiss: that tells you something (10)
|
| Anagram (remiss) of PREDICTOR’S | ||
| 14 | STRESS TEST |
Emphasise cricket match is trial demanding endurance (6,4)
|
| STRESS (emphasise) + TEST (cricket match) | ||
| 18 | LOYALTY |
Monarch and family switching sides to gain allegiance (7)
|
| rOYALTY (monarch and family) with the R changed to L (switching sides) | ||
| 19 | BROWNIE |
Helpful youngster baked something that’s chewy (7)
|
| Double def, where “baked” is an adjective rather than a verb | ||
| 21 | DAFT |
Yes, Russian getting UK newspaper is ridiculous (4)
|
| DA (Russian for yes) + FT (Financial Times, a UK newspaper) | ||
| 22 | MERC |
Moneyed European’s resplendent carrier, primarily? (4)
|
| First letters (primarily) of Moneyed European’s Resplendent Carrier |
Thanks for the blog , this was pretty good and I hope the newer solvers found it okay .
GRAND TOTAL I had as two definitions , the first just Sum , the second a bit cryptic .
STRESS TEST an accurate description of the game .
Thanks; a nice Everyman and blog.
I’m with Roz@1 on GRAND TOTAL as two definitions.
I especially liked MERSEYSIDE for the clue as definition and the “playing” as both an essential part of the definition and as indicator of the anag.
24a I had clean slate (although I coudl not see how it was derived) which meant that I coudl not solve 19d.
Otherwise a good puzzle.
Thanks Moh, I love your hardness scale.
For a long time I had written in CLEAN SLATE for 24 ac which worked with four of the five down crossers but made it difficult to get the helpful youngster at 19d.
Enjoyable but I’d rate it a little above talc.
OK, I’ll bite. ERGO does not mean ‘correspondingly’, it means ‘therefore’. You could I suppose use ‘correspondingly’ when you meant ‘therefore’ (or vice versa), but you would be wrong.
11a perpetuates the mad idea (favoured across the pond) that grinding and mincing are the same. They simply are not. Grinding is to reduce to a powder by crushing or friction, while mincing is to chop finely. The American context of the clue may allow it here, but it still grates …
Thanks moh. A fun solve. Favourites were GROUND HOG DAY and EARLY BIRD.
Thanks Everyman
I have written a Python routine to download the Gemelo/Azed (and Everyman) puzzle directly from The Observer website without the need to log in. If anyone is interested, please send an email to admin and I can give you “foolproof” instructions on how to use it.
You’re right, poc @5, that grinding and mincing are two quite different operations. I should probably have added in the blog that what we call mincing, with regards to meat, Americans I think always call grinding – so I’m not sure it’s fair to say the terms are interchangeable in American English. I do agree about ERGO though.
Roz @1/cosmic @2 – much as I hesitate to disagree, I’m sticking with my first take on GRAND TOTAL. Though either way, to be honest, it’s very much not the best clue I’ve ever come across…
‘Baked something that’s chewy’ seems like a very elaborate definition of a brownie. Isn’t ‘that’s chewy’ superfluous? Or am I missing something?
moh@8: I certainly did not mean to suggest that mincing and grinding are interchangeable in American English, merely that as Groundhog Day is an American occasion, the use of ‘ground’ rather than ‘minced’ might be (weakly) justified by the setter in this specific case.
Only five I couldn’t get, which isn’t bad for me.
I also had CLEAN SLATE for 24 – I should have had more confidence that my inability to parse the clue meant it was wrong, rather than it being my lack of skill!
I correctly guessed BRIGAND for 19 although I still don’t see big and sturdy as synonyms.